NH Couple Grateful For WMUR Lyme Disease Chronicle:

NEWPORT, N.H. — Health officials said Friday that there has been a surge or Lyme disease in New Hampshire, a challenging disease to diagnose and treat.

Several weeks ago, WMUR devoted a special chronicle to Lyme disease — an infection transmitted by some deer ticks.

A Newport couple said that program changed their lives.The Haseltons said they had a medical mystery: What was plaguing a husband who suddenly had trouble walking?

They said their questions were answered when they were tuned in to Lyme disease.”One Sunday morning, I woke up and go to Lin. I said, ‘There’s something really wrong with my knee. I can’t even bend it,’” Steven Haselton said.

That was the start of a long journey to diagnosing Lyme disease, he said. He and his wife live in Newport and said they think he may have been bitten by an infected tick as long as a year and a half ago.

The Haseltons said that for months, doctors couldn’t figure out the cause of his fatigue or swollen knee.”When he couldn’t stand on his leg and every night he’s holding ice packs on it, I knew there was something really wrong,” Lin Haselton said.

She said she watched a special New Hampshire chronicle called “Living with Lyme,” and she recognized her husband’s symptoms.”I’m so glad that I saw the show,” she said.”I got home from (playing) golf and she said, ‘Steve, you have Lyme disease. There was a special on WMUR on Lyme disease, and there was a gentleman on there that had the same condition as you did,’” Steve Haselton said.

He said he was tested for Lyme disease, and unlike an earlier test that came back negative, the new test was sent to a special out-of-state lab and came back positive.

Steve Haselton said he’s relieved to have a diagnosis but concerned because he wasn’t treated earlier.”This could be a very permanent thing for me,” he said.

“Now at least it appears this is treatable,” Lin Haselton said. “I mean, I’m very worried because this has gone on for so long.”She said her husband will now undergo high doses of antibiotics.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Lyme disease in most cases can be treated successfully that way. However, the Haseltons said they would like to see more research and awareness about the disease.

• Living With Lyme Disease Part 1 of 6
• Living With Lyme Disease Part 2 of 6
• Living With Lyme Disease Part 3 of 6
• Living With Lyme Disease Part 4 of 6
• Living With Lyme Disease Part 5 of 6
• Living With Lyme Disease Part 6 of 6
  

Copyright 2010 by WMUR. All rights reserved.

Having neurological Lyme disease has been devastating financially as well as emotionally and physically.

Throughout the ups and downs of the disease, the internet has been my salvation – allowing me to get support from other sufferers and eventually allowing me to extend a helping hand too.

The beautiful silver lining of this horrible disease is the wonderful friendships that are forged through the shared experience of Lyme that has been made possible through this blog and through a handful of forums I participate in.

Some people are still able to work with their disease, but due to the extent of my pain and weakness, I have been bedridden for much of four years and have struggled to find ways to earn money on the internet.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the term, big companies pay individuals and small companies with websites or blogs (or through emails) affiliate commissions on their products.

For me, I try never to recommend a product that I have not actually used (or been given very high recommendations), and I try to find the best values to pass on which makes it a win/win situation.  I have had most of this information on the Accomplishment Page on this blog since its inception, and suddenly I realized that I needed to update it and encourage more people to take advantage of these methods that are easier than ever before.

Cultivate Focus

But before taking on anything challenging, our mental state needs to be dealt with.  As you know, Lyme disease is a life changing disease, and if you were disorganized before, it is so, so much harder to be organized now.  Check it out:

http://zenhabits.net/archives/

which doesn’t cost a penny, but has wonderful and practical tip, encouragement and advice.  Give it a go when you feel like your brain fog is getting the best of you.

Another life changing program based on “The Secret” or “The Law of Attraction” which I absolutely love and still use is called:

“The Science of Getting Rich”.

It is not some phoney baloney hyped up scam, it is a thoughtful, spiritual and practical program designed to help anyone overcome obstacles of any kind in their life.  Perfect for Lymies – to help build up our self confidence and help us get our hope in our future stimulated.  We are not victims!

There is a program I use to try to earn extra money on the internet called:

“Mobile Monopoly”

that isn’t very expensive and helps pay for supplements.  It is fairly sophisticated, but you can go very slow (as I do) and the training is all done by video so you can watch them over and over again if you need to (which I still need to).  But it is a huge and new market that should be very helpful for those of us who have been so devastated financially.

Be careful when looking for opportunities on the internet.  There are some very unscrupulous people out there!  They will sell you a product that is free somewhere else, in fact Google has almost every tool you need to succeed with internet marketing for free.

Set Realistic Goals

First, be realistic about your expectations. You are sick, and it takes a lot of hard work to make money even when you are in the best of health.

If you focus on quality and honesty, you will succeed eventually.  For me, the most important thing is quality information, but for some it might be a genuine passion for a particular product or hobby.

What skills do you have?

There are many opportunities to manage projects from home at your own speed.

There are many freelance websites that allows you to bid on projects – both price and time – giving you flexibility to earn money without the usual pressures.  Elance.com, employmentspot.com and freelance.org are just a few of hundreds.  Whatever you did before your crash, you may be able to use those skills to make money at home.

Tell your story to your prospect to explain why you need more time. You’d be surprised at how much people enjoy helping others when they are given the opportunity.

Some of the categories are:

* design and multi-media
* web and programming
* writing and translation
* sales and marketing
* finance and mgt.
* legal
* data entry

Just because you are in your jamies and you haven’t showered or shaved in days doesn’t mean that you can’t pitch a job.  Nobody will see you.  As far as they know you are in a high rise office building.  Picture yourself there and have confidence that you can still do something.  It will help enormously with your self-worth if nothing else.

***

Now if you are really ambitious, perhaps you would be interested in building a website.

It used to be that you would need a webmaster or lots of money to hire someone, but times have completely changed now.

You can have a website up and running for under $75.  WordPress is free as are most all themes and plug-ins – you just need a domain which is under $10, hosting which is under $10 and some guidance:

“The Blog Inferno”

It’s a funny name for a very systematic course taught by Colleen Slater, who has been broke with nowhere to go…not sick with Lyme disease but she designed the course with loads of videos and I am embarrassed to tell you that the course is a fraction of the cost I paid when I started this blog!

What is nice about blogging is that you can write about a passion you can’t enjoy now due to your illness and still feel connected, or blog about Lyme like I do.  And you just keep blogging away…no deadlines or stress about anything technical – it’s easy!

We are sick, some of us very close to death, but we are not dead yet!  So while we are alive and fighting the horrible symptoms this disease brings, perhaps we can turn our tears to smiles when we can finally afford that special protocol we’ve been dreaming of – or help a friend who is even worse shape.

Have Fun

We don’t need any more darkness or stress in our lives so it is critical to be sure that there is a clear understanding before taking on any project that it is OK to sleep 3 days in a row if you need to, or resent the obligation one day while being thrilled the next day.

For me it has taken years of spending money to build this blog – money I should probably have spent on other things.  But all of you who have become my extended family are sometimes the reason I get my feet on the floor (or my eyes open) so…

Bless You!

If you haven’t seen it, now is the time you should.

http://ticktalkireland.wordpress.com/

Created by a victim of chronic Lyme who continues to suffer, and was told for years and years (until just recently)that there is no Lyme disease in Ireland!  Their stated mission: “Encouraging awareness, prevention & treatment of Lyme Disease (Borreliosis) in Ireland.”

Well, you will see that they are doing a wonderful job at accomplishing their mission and much, much more.

They needed to move their blog to Facebook so that more people could participate, and it has become a wonderful model of “all things Lyme.”

For instance, if you are feeling particularly bereft and alone, look at Celebrities with Lyme and you will see that ticks don’t check social status before latching on for a meal.

Or if you are desperate for humor – which I think we all are from time to time, take a look at Joanne’s Garden. I love to garden and have not yet done more than pull a weed or two so Joanne is WAY ahead of me!

To sum up, those of us in America with chronic Lyme disease have been beating our heads against the wall while trying to get the larger medical community to take us seriously – and that is with almost 50 years of evidence on our side that Lyme disease in fact exists.

I find it so very inspirational to see how organized and determined the Irish are in the face of denial at every level.  Can you imagine having to take a plane to find a LLD??

Finally, you may have read this extraordinary document: “Articles relating to persistence of infection & seronegativity:  Authored in some cases by IDSA guideline authors who claim there is no evidence of chronic or seroneg. despite their own previous studies.” however, I have not.  So I wanted to make sure you have the link.

By the way, don’t try to read when you are tired – wait until your fog is thin and your head relatively clear.  The information is truly amazing!

Massachusetts Governor Patrick signed a law which became effective on July 1, 2010 that protects doctors from law suits who prescribe long-term antibiotics for the treatment of Lyme disease.

This makes Massachusetts the fourth state with Connecticut, Rhode Island, and California.

The legislation provides the definition for Lyme disease which includes, “the presence in a patient of signs and symptoms compatible with acute infection with Borrelia burgdorferi; or with late stage or persistent or chronic infection with Borrelia burgdorferi, or with complications related to such an infection.” In addition, the legislation provides for updating the Lyme disease definition if other strains are found to cause Lyme disease.

Even more important, the legislation also legitimizes and defines the “clinical diagnosis” of Lyme disease. This may be based on knowledge obtained through medical history and physical examination only, or in conjunction with testing that provides supportive data for such clinical diagnosis, as determined by the treating physician rather than relying on the results of the unreliable Western Blot test – which even according to the CDC who determines the standard – catches only 10% (ten percent) of all Lyme disease tests presented.

As unbelievable as this sounds now, this new language is actually the original language the CDC developed itself for diagnosing Lyme disease.  Possible benefits may include insurance companies having less ammunition to deny claims for extended antibiotics.

Any way you look at it – its good news!

Hello,

This letter is from Eve Greenberg, to inform you that the Klinghardt Academy of Neurobiology will be closing its doors.

Two years ago, when Dr. Klinghardt asked me to set up an academy to host his seminars, I initially formed a company in which he was the sole member owner.

When I informed him of that, he asked me to cancel that company immediately and instead form a company solely owned by me. He wanted no ownership interest and wished to be compensated only as a consultant based on seminar revenue.

I formed the company myself from scratch with no financial support from him. I used the name Klinghardt in the name of the Academy because of the specific business purpose of the company as well as Dr. Klinghardt’s explicit commitment to teach seminars and lead symposia. I used his name with his consent.

Over the past two years, I steadily built my business. Seminar attendance grew dramatically as a consequence. I was able to pay Dr. Klinghardt progressively increasing compensation in his role as consultant to my company. Some of you are aware that before I came on the scene seminars featuring Dr. Klinghardt had become spotty and ill-attended.

Despite the benefits to Dr. Klinghardt from my work, recently he suddenly broke his commitment to the Academy. Under these circumstances, I am unwilling to continue with an Academy under his name.

As I close the Klinghardt Academy of Neurobiology, I want to give all of you an opportunity to purchase whatever products you might like to have.

I have therefore decided to extend the special sale on DVDs, Manuals and ART Materials and Supplies through the end of the day on Monday, August 9^th.

After Monday August 9th, I do not know when, if ever, these items will be available again.

Items may be purchased on the website, by calling (303) 499-4700, or by faxing (303) 862-5677.

All DVDs may be purchased at 25% off, all manuals at 20% off and all ART materials and supplies at 10% off. You may purchase these on the web:

http://stores.homestead.com/klinghardt/StoreFront.bok

or by calling me at (303) 499-4700

or by faxing (303) 862-5677.

I have greatly enjoyed getting to know all of you and meeting you at the Klinghardt Academy of Neurobiology seminars and symposia. I am delighted my work has been able to reach so many more of you than Dr. Klinghardt’s teachings have reached in the past. I am grateful for all the many compliments and extraordinary demonstrations of support from so many of you over the past two years since I created the Klinghardt Academy of Neurobiology.

At this point, many of you are surely wondering what happens next. What Dr. Klinghardt will do next, I cannot say.

For Eve Greenberg, however, this is not goodbye.

Through over two decades of my involvement in the world of holistic health, I have developed a deep commitment to identifying and exploring safer, more effective, and more comprehensive treatments and therapies as I have been fortunate to come in contact with brilliant practitioners, devoted students, and a wide range of individuals dedicated to a more healthy approach to their own lives, as well as to the lives of all those who inhabit this planet. My commitment to this work is long-term and ongoing.

I am therefore creating a new company. I am calling it

Healthy Medicine Academy.

This will be an Academy hosting many practitioners who are making wonderful contributions in their fields. I will offer seminars, symposia, and on-line classes. The website is:

www.healthymedicineacademy.com

and its sister website for purposes of social networking is

www.healthymedicinenetwork.com.

The telephone number to which you are already accustomed will remain the same: (303) 499-4700.

Milford Hospital in Massachusetts has been working for over a year on a new type of diagnostic test for Lyme disease using DNA sequencing rather than DNA nesting.

Huh?

We have all heard of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method of Lyme testing which is considered a “DNA nesting” test method which detects a genomic DNA of the Lyme disease-causing spirochete in the blood.

There are many problems with the PCR test but the largest being (in my opinion) that by the time a person is diagnosed by the ELIZA antibody test and then the western blot, a PCR will likely be negative due to the time it takes for the spirochetes to disseminate into the victim’s body.

If however, this new DNA sequencing test could replace the ELIZA test and be administered immediately, we would have a much better chance of diagnosing Lyme early, treating it early and reducing the number of missed cases that end up as debilitating chronic cases.

Excitement is growing around this new test for several reasons.

First, in the world of genetic testing, DNA sequencing is accepted as the gold standard for molecular identification wheras the ELIZA test is considered to miss as many as 50 – 75% of those who are infected.

Secondly, at a time where battle lines have been clearly drawn in the medical sands of research and practice, the staff and research team under Dr Lee, a pathologist at Milford Hospital (Milford, CT), Dr. Jay Walshon, Chairman of Emergency Medicine at Milford Hospital, and Dr. Jessie Williams,  of the Milford Hospital Walk-in Urgent Care Center are preparing another report to summarize their research experience.

Perhaps at another time this would not be remarkable, but to see that these papers are being published can give us all hope that eventually research will over-run prejudice and give the doctors who are caught in the crossfire, wanting to treat their patients who are suffering so severely with chronic Lyme – but feel their hands are tied by the harsh and restrictive language of the IDSA.

I believe most of our doctors do care and truly want to help but feel they are backed up against the wall given the hostility of the existing argument.

So we will keep a watch out for the next press release from Milford Hospital.

Meanwhile, if you or someone you know believes they may have contracted Lyme disease recently, this new test is being used right now in Milford.

The physicians at the Milford Hospital Emergency Center and Walk-in Urgent Care Center, who see about 40,000 patients a year, usually order the traditional antibody testing and the new DNA test for patients presenting with Lyme disease-like symptoms. Evidently, most insurance companies except Aetna will pay for the test.

For more information on this DNA test call George Poole, manager of Milford Medical Laboratory, at 203-876-4496.

What is ACA?

It is Acrodermatitis Chronica Atrophicans, a skin condition that frequently accompanies late stage Lyme borrelliosis (afzelii) but almost exclusively by those of  European heritage.

Originally discovered and documented by Dr. Buchwald in 1883, it was not until 1902 when Dr’s Herxheimer and Hartmann began to study the phenomena in earnest that clear evidence began to mount.  (The full name of the disease now carries the name of Dr. Herxheimer  in most references.)

Now it is estimated that close to 10% of all Europeans with Lyme disease  have ACA and in fact it is the most common late and chronic manifestation of  European Lyme disease.

However, given the fact that most doctors in North America do not believe in chronic Lyme disease, it is not surprising that dermotologists would not be trained to recognize ACA, and even Lyme literate doctors are sadly lacking any significant training about ACA.

Acrodermatitis chronica atrophicans is a skin condition that takes a  progressive course that leads to atrophy of the skin in a variety of ways but sharing certain common characteristics.

Not surprisingly, involvement of the peripheral nervous system is frequently observed as a part of ACA (numbness, tingling, pain…)

As we know, clinical manifestations of Lyme borreliosis are almost unlimited. They can affect the skin, nervous system, muscles, joints eyes, ears, any organ including the heart.  With ACA, the skin becomes papery thin and almost shiny and transparent so that the blood vessels, veins, arteries and tissue can be seen through the skin in various degrees which give the skin a pinkish/bluish color.

ACA is most commonly found on the hands and feet but can be found most anywhere on the body.  Unfortunately, if you think you have it, there isn’t a very good chance of diagnosis.

Doctors absolutely despise patients who come into their office armed with information from the internet.  However, you may have a chance if you come armed with the following article from WebMD: http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1051695-overview.  This site also has some remarkable pictures here.

For your own understanding of ACA, a picture is worth a thousand words.  There is a remarkable collection of pictures from Dermis.net (the lead picture for this post is from their site), make sure to click on your flag of nationality to read the text in the correct language: DERMIS.net.

Finally, there is a glaring and  amazing point I would like to make -  above and beyond the possible diagnosis that many may have been suffering with for years without a clue of its connection to chronic Lyme disease.   Perhaps you will have jumped ahead to the obvious question this post raises by the accepted and even honored  research byDr. Hartmann and Dr. Herxheimer over one hundred years ago.

Why and how can it be that the respected doctors of the day believed witout a doubt in chronic Lyme disease and studied symptoms and treatment of such while our “advanced doctors have disregarded over a century of research and documentation to cling to their platform of “there is no such thing as chronic Lyme disease.”

The next time you are challenged about chronic Lyme disease, you may want to bring up this ignored fact – that chronic Lyme disease is not debated in Europe.  Do we even need to ask why?

One of our readers was kind enough to pass on information about a company paying up to $400 per plasma donation from people who are positively diagnosed with Lyme disease.

At first I thought it was a scam and almost deleted the comment but thankfully I checked it out first.

The company is SeraCare Life Sciences, with offices in Milford, MA, Fredrick, and Gaithersburg Maryland.

SeraCare has successfully participated in some of the most demanding clinical trials and research initiatives of the past decade. They have provided research-support services delivering a broad scope of biological products and services,to the NIH, CDC, and FDA for 25 years.

SeraCare develops and manufactures the highest quality, biologically-based products, and offers a broad range of related services, backed by impressive combined expertise in virology, serology, immunology, and molecular biology.

SeraCare is inspired when their products and services accelerate or improve critical processes of validation, discovery, and production involving some of the most difficult health challenges facing our world – Lyme disease being one of them.

They develop and manufacture the highest quality, biologically-based products and offer a broad range of related services, backed by expertise in virology, serology, immunology, and molecular biology.

SeraCare, is inspired when their products and services accelerate or improve the critical processes of validation, discovery, and production for the resulting innovative healing products.

Jeff Daniels, the blogger who made me aware of SeraCare also wrote about three new strains of Lyme in Canada that may have an impact on the false negative western blots. Plasma testing could help sort out the specifics of whether or not this is the case.

To read Jeff’s post go here.

Some extra facts about plasma and the donating program at SeraCare:

Plasma is the part of your blood that holds various kinds of proteins, including antibodies. These antibodies are much needed for drug and vaccine research.

Why is my donation so important and so special? Your recent diagnosis may mean your white blood cells are producing disease related antibodies that are carried in your plasma.

These antibodies are studied by researchers for clues about how disease works.

Antibody research has contributed to development of treatments for multiple sclerosis, cancer, HIV, rheumatoid arthritis, and many other crippling  illnesses.

There is a severe shortage of this plasma, and SeraCare Life Sciences need our help.

To qualify as a paid donor you must be confirmed with a positive diagnosis.

You can donate plasma up to twice per week in most cases, and each donation may qualify for a payment.

Mileage expenses may also be reimbursed.

For those of us who suffer with Lyme disease and the financial devastation it brings, this could make the difference between feeding your children and struggling to a soup kitchen.

This is a wonderful hope for an enormous group of hopeless – all on its own, but of course the deeper hope we are facing, is the hope that this advanced group of scientists committed to finding solutions for Lyme disease – free from the political confines of IDSA – that a breakthrough will be made with the use of this plasma in diagnosis, and/or treatment.

Lets focus on hope for the future instead of rehashing the problems of the past.

Our average patient has been to 10-50 smart, sincere and concerned physicians, but they have not returned to their baseline level of functioning. We also inherit many treatment failures, which allow us to see by indirect and direct diverse types of testing what worked or failed before they came to us.

1. The notion of “Lyme Disease” is a 1990′s notion. If a clinician uses advanced, direct and highly important indirect testing to look for the increasing number of infections carried by deer ticks, it is clear that organisms besides Lyme are present routinely in deer ticks. The idea that deer ticks only carry one infection is a disaster. Deer ticks carry multiple bacteria, parasites, and viruses. For example, Bartonella is far more common than Lyme disease.
2. There is no correct starting dose for virtually any medication. I was asked years ago by two top editors to write an article on “sensitive and careful dosing in clinical practice.” They noticed within my various papers we were pointing out the need for tailored dosing instead of chemical battery. For example, all medications should begin with a first dose that is below a full tablet or capsule, because sometimes it is 20x more effective than normal. Always start with a fraction of the lowest dose pill and this can be increased over a mere 24 hours.Further, one never should increase or start two treatments at once. This is chaos, and causes confusion over the reason for a side effect or a good benefit. Also, if a patient develops uncomfortable feelings, either from the die off of an organism or from medication side effects, they become demoralized, and the cause is unclear with many treatments. Simply, no two people have even been treated by me the same from start to finish, and this is why a cure book on all major tick-borne infections cannot be published.M

3. Is the new explosion of so-called “Lyme Literate” or LL-MD experts really trained to do more than basic screening? Generally when I am trying to pursue an expertise in any aspect of tick and flea borne infections, I spend years engaged in full-time reading on the topic and try to talk with the leaders around the world who know the most on the topic. Unfortunately, as of 2010, “Lyme Literate” really means that you have gone to a couple conferences, learn the basics from the last five to ten years, and some also shadow one or two physicians for days to a week while they see patients—both are good experiences. Both are a good starting place, but does not make one “tick-infection literate” in any serious manner. Finding someone that knows how to use a wide range of labs which will check for a direct and indirect presence of the infections from tick, who has read thousands of articles, and consults with physicians and scientists regularly for success and failures along with finding new solutions is extremely rare in the world. Yet we do need every screening healer we can get!
4. Routine speed IV treatment of most new patients is an error. Some individuals treating Lyme disease do a fairly rapid assessment and quickly put all of their patients on an I.V. like they are running a mill. It is almost as if they say “It is nice to meet you, let’s get you started on your I.V. quickly.” There are many problems with this approach and far too many to discuss here, but the first problem is that the volume of spirochetes that can die with an invasive I.V. could be too many, due to the release of Lyme debris and/or Lyme biotoxins, such as Botox I can increase inflammation. It also ignores the fact that Bartonella, with increasing numbers of human species found yearly suppresses immunity. IV treatment will never be as effective as it could be when used alone without the use of new 2010 selected Bartonella treatments that are clearly proven to work when used alone or in combination. Meaning, IV and all other types of Lyme treatment work profoundly better if one or more new Bartonella treatments are used. We find new such treatments every few seasons. As previously stated in my first Townsend article on the Reasons for Lyme Treatment Failure, the most common treatments for Bartonella come from a mere 25 basic Bartonella treatment articles or infection handbooks. They lead to relapse even when they appear to work for a variable periods of time.I.V. gall bladder emergencies are too frequent. One reason some insurance companies do not want to do prolonged I.V. treatment is because of gallbladder emergencies. I am fairly stunned that the only thing given to protect the gallbladder and liver with the use of I.V. medications is Actigall, and some do not prescribe anything when giving I.V. treatment. Many have little knowledge of advanced ways to protect the liver, and yet use liver stressing treatments. For example, any dose of azithromycin, Mepron, Malarone, Diflucan or IV or injected muscle antibiotics can stress the liver, and low doses that do not stress the liver may lead to residual infections.

5. Following the guidelines of practitioners with famous names, university titles or organization leadership positions is an error in judgment. If you are famous or have a title or “chair” or are high in an organization, the more brutally busy the healer can be, sometimes working 12hours virtually every day. So this healer can never read high volumes of new material published this season. Therefore, no organization, government agency, web site or person has the definitive, updated information on tick-infection medicine in the USA or the world. No single organization or group of organizations can provide people with authoritative instruction in how to treat an individual profoundly unique patient.
6. All guidelines for medicine are flawed and outdated within one month of publication. The explosion of new published material and non-published discoveries by hundreds of international healers make guidelines mere suggestions.Hundreds of thousands of articles are published every few months. In our practice, we have only published five percent of what we have found. Similarly, many fellow researchers I know also have limited time to publish their discoveries.

   Further, the great philosopher of science, Kuhn, has shown that there are so many variables that impact all scientists that the notion that any group of physicians can give unbiased pure scientific recommendations is impossible. Obvious guideline errors are present in all current tick and flea-borne infection guidelines.

   Different guidelines have outrageously specific treatment plans which are not even appropriate for cars, which in this current age have different types of oil and different amounts of recommended oil. The human body when it is infected with a cluster of tick infections is a billion times more complex than any automobile. Some guidelines use highly dated doses from studies that are fifteen years old. Other guidelines do not even mention infections such as persistent human atypical Bartonella, which has vastly more vectors than Lyme disease, or Babesia and based on years of full-time reading, suppresses the immune system in highly specific ways that some guideline agencies and groups seem to totally ignore.

7. A complete lack of meaningful knowledge of the immense magnitude and danger of Bartonella. This stealth bacteria has over ten different ways to infect you, and not merely a few types of ticks. It kills and harms every organ and decreases fevers and immune defenses, and does not fully respond to the top ten “published” traditional or alternative treatments. In one case report it appears that Bartonella turned off all the antibodies to five tick-borne infections, including its own antibody titer levels. In this medical family they self treated with a new Bartonella agent and this resulted in an explosion of western blot Lyme disease bands and all major deer tick infection antibody titers suddenly rose to profound levels because the immune system was no longer suppressed against them by Bartonella. Therefore, merely by the use of this newly uncovered Bartonella treatment, all of these patients negative labs at a large national lab, turned positive after being repeatedly negative.
8. The use of fetish, “favorite” medications, herbs or new “discovered” causes of prolonged illness. Of course, any healer studying traditional or progressive medications is serving all. My appeal in this criticism is not to reject the fine work done by at least two hundred people internationally on traditional antibiotics, protozoa medications, anti-virals, herbs used for a wide range of infections, essential oils, and at least fifty progressive alternative treatments.However, like the experience of falling in love, when one love becomes all you think about, this is not optimal medicine when you fall in love with a few treatments.

   For example, minocycline, tetracycline, clarithromycin, rifampin, azithromycin, HBOT, Rife, special saunas, ozone, IV nutrients to “boost immunity,” chelation, confused detox formulas, Artemisia derivatives, essential oil combinations, IV medications, various weak alcohol based herbal programs, various energy machines, and a hundred other options found in chat rooms and Lyme disease “information” sites, are not meant to be the sole or primary style of all patient treatment. Carpenters use select tools at select times for select needs. Nevertheless, with my thanks for the above passion of those that promote these and hundreds of others of treatments, they have to pass blind rigorous simple direct and indirect testing to show they work, and very few know how to do such testing. I feel it is an error to only use an antibiotic which has limited mechanisms for killing bacteria.

   I have published the most current textbook on Artemisia derivatives, including Artemisinin (qinghaosu) and many other toxic forms that should be avoided. And yet, despite being the most recent practical clinical book on the topic, based on a year of full-time study with Chinese consultants and WHO consultants, it has been ignored by some who have little herbal training or reading. Why? The final approach that is worthy of mention is the “I only do natural treatments” approach. Unfortunately when I interview some of these individuals many of whom are quite smart and well read, they are aware of allopathic medication side effects, but not the toxic components of the herbs they are using. Individuals using essential oils, including those that prescribe them, usually have never read a book on the various toxicities and safety concerns of essential oils. Some of them have excellent effects and others can provide help, but also have side effect risks and others should never be used internally at all in anything more than a minimal dose.

9. The “new” yearly or bi-yearly cause of Lyme disease treatment failures is possibly wrong. I was appreciative that a few brilliant researchers found that the Bb Lyme spirochete had a biofilm in recent years–useful. But I was actually stunned this was felt to be new, since spirochetes routinely have biofilms, and dental spirochetes have immense research going back many years on biofilm promoting dental disease. A review of the major world literature shows about 25 treatment options to handle biofilms. No one has offered more than a small number of basic options to beat this problem. Perhaps it increases treatment relapses and failures, but that is not what I usually see.
10. Rejection of top thought leaders because of cost. When I think back over the hundreds of physician’s, PhD’s, herbal experts, nurses, alternative healing practitioners and even poorly educated addicts who I treated decades ago, it is clear to me, that while none of them was perfect, all have helped me immeasurably. Currently at least 50 physicians are defamed for their fees when treating tick borne infections which can end their entire career. The same applies to bonding with a healer. I often seek the wisdom of people that may be annoying, irritable, tired, simplistic, insulting, or confusing. But the fact of the matter is virtually every healer I have known, regardless of specialty, philosophy and ideology, has taught me a lesson that helps patients. I have literally seen patients decide to go with physicians who have virtually no knowledge of tick-borne disease, because they were “caring and friendly.”Further some want a “local” physician, as if geography is the same as expertise and knowledge.

    The appeal of many smart patients is to tell you this: it takes many appointments to get better, and there is no better use of any income than on your health and the health of your loved ones, instead of wasting it on healer after healer who is sincere, but does not have a complete passion to master these illnesses, and a good track record of improving lives, including very ill patients. A mere few sessions usually will not cure all your tick-borne infections.

11. The use of herbal treatments without solid follow-up by direct and indirect means. Currently, one finds herbs that are mixed in grain alcohol with 1/50th the potency of a capsule, that are supposedly cures to tick-borne disease. In our examination of these inherited treatment failures, we have not found these low potency alcohol based herbs cure. Others offer high priced herbs and “know” they are successful, and often recommend one size for all adults living on the earth. Often their understanding of advanced herbal processing, standardization and the multiple chemicals in any herb is limited. In any event, in our outcome studies we have found that these herbs at best may limit body infection volume slightly. It is profoundly important to use effective herbs with a tailored specialized dosage for each individual or you are merely experiencing “mill medicine.” If you are self treating with herbs or by a healer, if they promote “one size fits all” you are accepting health care inferior to dog medicine.
12. Advice from Web sites and chat rooms usually does not apply to you. No two people are ever to be treated the same. To seek advice on the Internet is a concern of most physicians and healers. Sometimes you can find mature balanced support from those who are healthy, but not new advanced and solid credible information for your medical care. Many leaders in tick-infection medicine report they are quoted incorrectly, and that the information is often wrong, sometimes dangerous and wastes time and money.

James Schaller, MD has been elected by his physician peers a “Best Doctor in America.”

He has published more books on tick infections than probably any physician in history. Perhaps this is why he treats patients from all over the world. He is the author of 26 books and 27 papers published in highly respected peer-reviewed medical journals on topics covering ten areas of medicine.

He is the author of:

• Babesia Update 2009: A Cause of Excess Weight, Migraines and Fatigue? A Common Reason for Failed Lyme Disease Treatment
• The Health Care Professional’s Guide to the Treatment and Diagnosis of Human Babesiosis: An Extensive Review of New Human Babesia Species and Advanced Treatments
• Artemisinin, Artesunate, Artemisinic Acid and Other Derivatives of Artemisia Used for Malaria, Babesia and Cancer
• The Diagnosis, Treatment and Prevention of Bartonella: Atypical Bartonella Treatment Failures and 40 Hypothetical Physical Exam Findings; A Laboratory Guide to Human Babesia Hematology Forms.
• Mold Illness and Mold Remediation Made Simple: Removing Mold Toxins from Bodies and Sick Buildings
• When Traditional Medicine Fails, Your Guide to Mold Toxins
• A.D.D., Irritability and Oppositional Disorders: Cutting Edge Solutions Sincere Therapists and Doctors Miss
• Suboxone: Take Back Your Life From Pain Medications

SEE:  http://www.personalconsult.com/

My average patient has been to 10 to 50 physicians before me.

Below are some sample reasons for treatment failure.

1. Many patients and health-care workers are profoundly ignorant about how to read a western blot. If a person has one “fingerprint band,” he/she has Lyme disease. These specific bands are the 18, 23, 25, 31, 34, 39, 83, or 93 bands. The lab can be a junk lab that invests nothing to optimize its kit; but if one of these is positive, even once – Lyme is present. IGeneX has the best western blot in the world. No other lab has invested so much for so long to create the best test. If your clinician wants to first use an ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay), simply run. The ELISA as a screen test is utter junk, and misses profoundly PCR-positive patients.

2. Ten years of Lyme treatment is not acceptable. The use of IV treatment year after year means that the practitioner has a 1990s treatment approach. “Cure” treatments often merely lower body loads or decrease symptoms without fully killing all the infectious agents.

3. Some treatments simply are useless. For example, hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) for tick infection treatment fails. Its use in mice is not applicable. I self-funded a study examining HBOT results on Lyme, Babesia, Ehrlichia, and Bartonella. After 120 treatments at 2.4 atmospheres for 90 minutes each, all participants still had clear positive findings for all four infections. So advertising that HBOT “kills” Lyme disease has no validity. I have talked to the late Dr. William Fife in detail and carefully evaluated the HBOT research of Dr. Robert Lombard. I love this treatment for many medical problems, but it is not a tick infection cure.

4. Ignoring new data leads to treatment failures. For example, I have published many new books on advanced tick-borne infections. Some “Lyme-literate” MDs only buy them after years have passed and educated patients are throwing copies at them. They all show new critical information.

5. Some health-care workers believe in a pope or president of Lyme literacy. But no perfect expert exists. Some offer useful information from past investigations. No one has mastered all of tick-borne medicine and all the newest coinfection information.

6. I have been asked by a number of physicians to share my new findings. Most ask because they are ill themselves. I have told them to stop treating themselves and to do an hour consultation with very extensive labs. Most have refused. What they could have learned by fixing themselves would have translated into real help for their patients.

7. Current treatment recommendations are often profoundly flawed. IV treatments are often used without a herbal or synthetic antibiotic cyst buster. The most common treatment for Babesia is 750 mg/teaspoon of Mepron taken twice a day. The most commonly used Babesia herbal cures are artemisinin, or artesunate (Zhang Artemisiae from Hepapro.com), one capsule three times a day. All four of these approaches listed above fail even after long trials.

8. The flaw in all Bartonella treatment is the lack of one-year follow-up studies. I have found that Levaquin, rifampin, Zithromax, doxycycline, Mycobutin, Cumunda, Banderol, and Rife machines at various frequencies and power may lower body load and lead to initial feelings of improvement. None of these treatments lead to Bartonella cure.

9. The current testing for Babesia, Bartonella, and Ehrlichia is markedly flawed. Some DNA or PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests processed by an East Coast lab often miss a positive infection ten times. If you need to do ten urine or blood samples to show a positive, this is not functional. Some labs are only fair at tissue PCR testing, when the tissue has clear Lyme, Babesia, and Bartonella that can be visualized microscopically. This is a diagnostic disaster. Amazingly, some use large national labs to do manual examination of red blood cells to look for Babesia and Bartonella. I have never seen a large national lab detect Babesia or Bartonella in over 1,000 manual smears.In patients with certain Babesia and Bartonella, no large national lab captured these infections even once. I repeatedly offered to assist them in improving their technology by linking them with hematology experts in tick infections. They were not interested.

10. The knowledge base about both Bartonella testing and treatment borders on the disastrous. Bartonella is one of the most common infections in the world. Calling it a “coinfection” is nonsense; if anything, Lyme is the “coinfection.” It is found in vast numbers of common vectors, including dust mites, fleas, flea feces, pet saliva, and ticks. Amazingly, it can turn off or lower antibodies to Lyme disease, Babesia, Ehrlichia, Anaplasma, and even itself. Bartonella floats in blood and also enters all blood vessel walls without causing a fatal fever, and indeed actually lowers fevers. It is the ultimate stealth infection. It turns off antibodies, fevers, and immune function defense chemicals as it damages organs in 20 to 60 ways.

11. The use of fixed “protocols” or “procedures” in the treatment of tick infections is sadistic medicine. Why? It treats each ill human person as a machine that is built the same and has the exact same problems. This is making a patient into an object and has hints of the sociopathic. A serious criminal makes people into things to fit his perceptions of the world. To force an immensely unique human body, with a unique infection cluster, and a unique biochemical response, into a protocol is objectification of the patient. It is junk “mill medicine.”

12. Since Bartonella turns off the production of antibodies to infections like Babesia microti or Babesia duncani and Lyme disease, I suggest that this infection must be considered in all initial consults. I would encourage learning the 40 skin patterns from  Bartonella or Bartonella/Lyme mixed infections that are made by increased tissue and blood vessels. It is also useful to know the indirect labs associated with Bartonella alone, or Bartonella with Babesia, such as IL-6, IL-1B, TNF-a, ECP, and VEGF. I discuss clinical patterns from lab results of thee infections in my book Babesia Update 2009.

13. Some patients have very few Babesia protozoa parasites, but they cause serious trouble in the body. Their small numbers cause them to be missed in a visual FISH (fluorescent in-situ hybridization) exam or a PCR test.

14. If your lab does not test for new species such as Babesia duncani or the many other documented species of Babesia or Bartonella that infect humans, you cannot rule out these infections with a “negative result.” One way to decrease treatment failures is to use a new medical trick to detect stealth Babesia, whose presence can cause ongoing fatigue, headaches, weight gain, and Lyme treatment failure.

The “trick” is simple. A patient is given at least two Babesia-killing medications such as Mepron, artesunate at a high useful dose, or Malarone (for the proguanil). These medications are used for ten days at a dose you and your physician think is worth the risk, and usually at least one will kill a few Babesia parasites. Approximately 10 to 14 days later, a second ECP (eosinophil cationic protein) level is taken to compare with baseline. If the ECP pops up significantly, it is usually a sign of Babesia die-off. Eosinophils are releasing ECP, possibly injecting Babesia debris.  ECP is meant to kill parasites.

An alternative or added option is to wait five weeks and have the patient tested for antibodies to B. microti or duncani. One young patient with profound illness was finally diagnosed in this manner, and after three weeks of triple Babesia treatment, had significant clinical improvement for the first time in six years. Stealthy low-volume Babesia is a common problem in tick and flea infection treatment. Talented health-care workers commonly miss these red blood cell parasites, but this trick usually causes them to show up and can save someone from years of failed treatment.

15. The Bartonella testing of most national labs is useless. It is stunning to read of “sages” reporting that a patient does not have Bartonella because a large lab has found negative antibodies. First, they do not understand that Bartonella turns off its own antibodies; these large labs only check for one (or two) species that infect humans, and their cut-off titers are unrealistically high. Thankfully, IGeneX Bartonella FISH testing is expected to be available this month to everyone but citizens of New York State.

16. Infections and inflammation decrease insight. Tick-borne infections routinely lead to a personality change and/or rigid resistance to testing. This is largely due to an impaired frontal lobe that is the part of the brain involved in self-awareness. Examples of decreased insight are shown in the following situations:

a. Some think they are cured when they are only improved.
b. Others intentionally go to practitioners using inferior labs.
c. Some refuse to be tested with eccentric resistance.
d. Positive results are amazingly dismissed with a wave of the hand.

17. Some patients think that their trouble is not tick-borne infections but mold. They cannot believe that both are important, and either could be “the last straw.” Some patients get ill after a flood, large leak, or other water-intrusion problem. They think that they are ill only because of mold mycotoxins that form 36 to 48 hours after water intrusion into drywall, insulation, carpeting, and other dust- or cellulose-filled materials. The Environmental Protection Agency reports that 30% of US structures have indoor mold. Some of these indoor molds have war-grade chemicals on their surfaces. When the mold-filled tomb room of the last king of Poland, Casimir IV, was opened in Paris in 1973, 10 of the 12  scientists present died. One survivor had expertise in mold and subsequently found three toxic mold species.

Given the average of 40,000 to 120,000 inhalations per week by those residing in a moldy location, it is no wonder that some are not easily cured of tick and flea infections. This is why I have written two mold remediation books.

We have also known since the 1880s that dust and high humidity lead to mold and bacteria growth indoors. Their presence makes Lyme disease much more difficult to cure.

18. Lyme has at least one surface biotoxin, the patented BbTox1. Patients with 15/16–6/5–51 HLA patterns probably are unable to remove Lyme biotoxins and require a binder, like cholestyramine, which has been used to bind biotoxins since the 1970s.

19. Many patients who have had tick-borne infections have very high inflammation levels. Therefore, all starting doses of medications or herbs should be very low and then raised to high levels with liver-protecting substances. Starting at full dosing in a “medically sensitive” patient is chemical battery. Massive die-offs can be confused with allergic reactions and can cause panic attacks, shortness of breath, chest pain, and severe migraines. This sloppy, one-size-fits-all approach, is common in large practices in which a few major “protocols” are routine.

20. Medical “Band-Aids” are often required to save a job or a marriage and to care for children. They are often a normal part of care. Pain, fatigue, severe insomnia, depression, and anxiety often are increased with the die-off of any of the infections carried in deer ticks. Band-Aid treatments are often useful and helpful. I treat people who run companies, schools, very large families, and professional teams. They want to sleep 13 hours per day. They need stimulants for a period of time. The use of natural or synthetic stimulant options is discussed in my book The Diagnosis and Treatment of Babesia. Patients do not benefit from sleep in excess of 8½ hours. It may just serve to get them fired!

21. If you have health-care workers who are uncomfortable being aggressive with treatment and diagnosis of all the top tick and flea infections, you are at the wrong place. If your health-care provider has not spent 1,000 hours learning this complex emerging area of medicine requiring a great deal of study, find someone who is serious about it, not someone “doing you a favor” by simply running a few tests.

22. Some relapse due to treatment fatigue. Meaning, you have been treated for many years. You have done IV antibiotics or IV nutrients, you have taken 40 pills per day, you have tried a wide range of specialized treatments, and now you are fed up with it all. You can now function at 80% of your baseline. You are at the end of your treatment rope. This is what happens when someone does not treat you fully and effectively at the beginning of your treatment. You can get treatment fatigue. Consider a short treatment break, and discuss this frankly with your health-care provider. Do not confuse cure with improvement.

23. The treatment approach that leads to cure is not the same dose that leads to stunning organisms. Cure does not does not equal a reduction in bacteria load. For example, using Bicillin once a week with no cyst buster will never cure you of Lyme disease because it does not remove cysts. So years after receiving this treatment, your cancer-fighting cells, marked by some as the CD57 level, may be under 90. This is one good test that is possibly specific for Lyme disease or at least tick-borne infections. (The C3a and C4a test is definitely not specific for Lyme).

24. Cynical relatives, friends, or other health-care workers may defame Lyme experts and persuade patients to drop providers who are helping. They usually use the “money” or “speed of your recovery” argument to cut you off from someone sincerely trying to help you. If you have been infected years with multiple infections, you cannot be cured in six months.

25. In 2008 a Lyme biofilm appeared to have been discovered. Organizations with millions in grants and research money have never addressed this issue. We know that many spirochetes have biofilms. Indeed, many spirochetes in your mouth are known to cause biofilms, and they are believed to limit antibiotic effectiveness.

I am currently working on a textbook that addresses the many options for attacking biofilms. No article nor book yet exists that explores the 20-plus ways I would propose to beat a Lyme biofilm. It is believed by some professionals that highly specific enzymes (or one mineral) can undermine a Lyme biofilm. Yet enzymes are like keys, and no single enzyme is a proven “key” to undermining a Lyme biofilm.

26. Self-treatment is easy to pursue. Many experts are expensive, and you are uncertain of their level of knowledge. The Internet seems to offer many effective options. Some health-care providers seem too narrow. Others are open to virtually everything. So you get in a medical boat and push yourself out to sea. You read like crazy. You try A, B, and C. You read testimonies of hundreds of patients. You try a wide range of nonprescription options. Some days, weeks, or months you feel better; other weeks, you are not so good. You are upset. You ask yourself, why do I have to do all the work and learning? This is not a good place. There are people who have already explored virtually all the things you are going to explore in the next ten years. You need a mentor. Many practitioners will do nonpatient consults with you to save you time.

27. In many of my books and many Internet sites, you can read about preventing flea and tick bites. You do not need to be reinfected with Bartonella, Lyme, Babesia or any other infection. So learn the basic steps to protection in about 30 minutes of reading.

28. Tick and flea-borne infections cause isolation. They ruin relationships due to resulting fogginess, poor insight, depression, various addictions, rage, extreme hostility – even violence – and refusal to get treatment. Bartonella is likely the worst offender, but Lyme and Babesia and their die-offs can also increase these problems. Isolation leads to decreased treatment options. It can ultimately lead to divorce and the loss of family relationships and friendships. This, in turn, leads to decreased resources and support while ill. Isolated humans, as Mother Teresa often said, are the poorest beings on earth.

This article has also been published in the July 2009 issue of The Townsend Letter by: James Schaller, MD; 239-263-0133; www.personalconsult.com

James Schaller, MD, has been elected by his physician peers a “Best Doctor in America.” He has published more books on tick infections than probably any physician in history. He is the author of 26 books and 27 papers published in highly respected medical journals on topics covering 10 areas of medicine. He is the author of Babesia Update 2009: A Cause of Excess Weight, Migraines and Fatigue? A Common Reason for Failed Lyme Disease Treatment; The Health Care Professional’s Guide to the Treatment and Diagnosis of Human Babesiosis: An Extensive Review of New Human Babesia Species and Advanced Treatments; Artemisinin, Artesunate, Artemisinic Acid and Other Derivatives of Artemisia Used for Malaria, Babesia and Cancer; The Diagnosis, Treatment and Prevention of Bartonella: Atypical Bartonella Treatment Failures and 40 Hypothetical Physical Exam Findings; A Laboratory Guide to Human Babesia Hematology Forms; Mold Illness and Mold Remediation Made Simple: Removing Mold Toxins from Bodies and Sick Buildings; When Traditional Medicine Fails, Your Guide to Mold Toxins; A.D.D., Irritability and Oppositional Disorders: Cutting Edge Solutions Sincere Therapists and Doctors Miss; and Suboxone: Take Back Your Life From Pain Medications.